Guys Come and Go in Millennial Rom-Com ‘The Year of Spectacular Men’
Sandra Miska
Many a writers have supportive mothers cheering them on, but the mother of actress/writer Madelyn Deutch took a step further by directing the first film to be based off of her daughter’s screenplay, “The Year of Spectacular Men.” It may have helped that Deutch’s mom is known other than actress Lea Thompson. Thompson, who has previously directed multiple television projects but never a feature before now, also plays the mother of Izzy Klein, an aimless college grad played by Deutch who finds herself moving in with her movie star younger sister after graduation. Thompson’s younger daughter, Zoey Deutch, plays said sister, Sabrina, making the film officially a family affair.
It would be accurate to describe the story of “The Year of Spectacular Men” an example of the adage “life is what happens when you’re making other plans,” except Izzy doesn’t initially have any concrete plans. Her only goal, if one could call it that, is to have some fun while she’s still in her twenties. Needless to say, she is pretty insufferable for much of the film. Most of the plot revolves around Izzy’s relationships with a series of guys who, despite the title, are mostly unremarkable. The personalities of the men somewhat reflect the cities in which Izzy meets them. In New York, she ends a long-term relationship with the neurotic Aaron (Jesse Bradford) and hops into bed with her scene partner, self-absorbed thespian Ross (Cameron Monaghan). In Los Angeles, she dates laidback drummer Logan (Brandon T. Jackson), who turns out to be less invested in their relationship than she had hoped, although she sabotages this romance by playing the part of the cool girl. On vacation in Idaho she has a fling with the handsome but forgettable Mikey (Zach Roering).
It is in San Francisco where we finally see Izzy morphing into some semblance of an adult, taking a job as Sabrina’s personal assistant Up until that point, she mostly she just hung out and watched old episodes of “The X-Files” between her sexual trysts. Once she starts making adult decisions, she attracts a successful man, Charlie (Nicholas Braun), the director of the film in which Sabrina is currently filming. Although Izzy’s affair with the introverted Charlie turns out to be another disappointment, it’s is surprisingly touching and poignant.
The heart of “The Year and Spectacular Men” is the relationship between the three main women. Despite their differences, there is genuine love and affection between the sisters and their mom, Deb, although Deb’s relationship with a younger woman, Amythyst (Melissa Bolona), rubs Sabrina the wrong way. Sabrina’s disdain for her mom’s partner seems irrational, at least to her boyfriend, fellow movie star Sebastian (Avan Jogia). Sebastian is the film’s sole decent guy, until he isn’t, and his betrayal of Sabrina is a turning point after which the plot really picks up. At the end of the day, the women prove to be each other’s biggest supporters. That’s not to say that the men are completely disposable, as one of the sisters ends up romantically fulfilled by the time the credits roll.
Who knows how much the elder Deutch drew from her own life here, but she gets points for accurately portraying the awkwardness of being intimate with a new partner for the first time, as the film contains some truly cringeworthy sex scenes.
“The Year of Spectacular Men” opens June 15 in select theaters.